Q + A: Jake Jennings
By Megan Peta
Jake Jennings is a transfer student who has found his passion at the intersection of his love for sports and telling stories which helped him decide on the path he is on now. His non-traditional path did not stop him from pursuing the future he envisioned for himself. He was pursuing a degree in business at Kennesaw State University, but after a year, he realized he was not doing what he loved.
He applied to the University of Georgia, and decided to pursue journalism. Today, he has found community and purpose in the profession. He now is working with the Red and Black and continues to find inspiration through his classes. His professors act as role models to him and his dreams continue to blossom as he gets deeper into his journalism classes.
Despite the difficulties of transferring, Jennings has continued to find community in all aspects of his life. He uses his exuberant personality to invest in all of the people around him and says the positive culture of UGA has made his transition easier than he thought. Jennings pursues community through his role at the Red and Black and intramural sports.
His constant love for sports throughout his life has provided him with not only a career path, but also a lot of the relationships he maintains today. Sports have continued to build who he is and his pursuance of sports journalism is a continuation of that love. From KSU to UGA, Jennings has built himself up to achieve his dream of writing for The Athletic.
Megan Peta
Tell me about getting UGA and what that journey looked like?
Jake Jennings
So, I went to high school at Mount Perron. It’s in Kennesaw, and I applied to UGA, and I got in, but I didn’t really want to go here. The tour wasn’t I good and I had one person from my whole High School going here which is weird for a Georgia high school, and my best friend his name’s Cody Kington, he was going to KSU too, so I was like I’m going to go along with him, because as like a senior in high school I’m not thinking about like opportunities I’m thinking about who I’m going to be friends with. So I went to KSU.
Two of my roommates that I didn’t know because me and Cody live with two random people ended up transferring to Georgia and then Cody went to flight school so then I was like the only one left. So, during my sophomore year I was like what am I even doing here. And then, I was in business also at KSU. And I decided, like I was gonna do law, and then my aunt was like she’s an attorney and she was like, don’t do law. Like, you can go to law school after college but don’t major in pre law because then if you end up not liking it you have nowhere to go with a pre law degree, other than law. And so I was like, All right, I’ll do journalism I like to write, and then applied to Grady really liked it got the job at the Red and Black which was cool. So that’s kind of why I came to Georgia because Georgia, like Grady is very renowned based off what I’ve heard so that’s like the main pull that got me here, and then I started living with some like people from my high school that had also transferred so that’s been awesome.
Megan Peta
Talk about how you experienced community at UGA be that through The Red and Black or through other involvement.
Jake Jennings
So when I got to UGA obviously I knew like some people that had transferred here, but I like how the classes at UGA, and you’ll probably understand this too, it’s like especially this class we kind of just start talking and like you have stuff in common with other people and I’m a talkative person which can be annoying sometimes, but I do just kinda like that there’s other people like that here and like in my classes I can actually get to know people and study with them, and then the people I live with been awesome. It was high school friends that I wasn’t like best friends with, but I knew, and then I’ve gotten really close to them since I got here and then obviously I have a lot of friends with The Red and Black now which is going to get it. So, yeah, it’s been awesome.
Megan Peta
As a transfer student. How do you feel like your experience at UGA might differ from someone who came here more traditionally?
Jake Jennings
I guess when I got here the guys I was rooming with already had their groups. And so at first I was like, trying to find my spot, which The Red and Black did help with, so that was a little harder, because, I don’t know if you remember freshman year of college, like you get there and everyone’s looking for friends so it’s so fun. But then if you transfer, it’s like everybody already has them. And so you have to work for it, which has been good. It’s helped me grow like my character is growing through that, but now that I have found groups like The Red and Black, my roommates, and I have some intramural guys I’ve played basketball with. It’s been so great here and everybody’s so nice. It’s a huge school, but it feels so small if you get in those little groups and niches, you know, so I’ve really liked the transition. I did like KSU. I don’t want to like crap on KSU, you know, but um, this has been more of a community. KSU had a lot of commuters, not everybody lived on campus so like are near campus so when you walk around here you see so many faces you just kind of recognize, so I really like that about Georgia.
Megan Peta
So what role has sports played in your life like besides a potential career?
Jake Jennings
That’s a really good question. I would say, I know just relationships, like, obviously, you gravitate to people that you have similarities with so a lot of my friends are really into sports. Funnily enough Cody [his roommate] hates sports, which is so weird about best friends, you have so many differences too but like a lot of my friends we talk about that. Then just I guess my relationship with my dad has been through sports he’s a Notre Dame fan, so I grew up just watching and I’m not. I’m a Mississippi State fan, but I grew up watching Notre Dame with him and that’s still my best memories and I feel like we wouldn’t be as close if we didn’t have like the sports we watch because that’s time when I just sit with him and talk and it’s easier to talk about stuff with something on it’s like not as much pressure, so I would say the relationship with my dad that I felt through sports has been huge and he still comes to like intramural games sometimes which is so cool.
Megan Peta
Is there anyone within sports journalism that you consider like a mentor like a role model that is an inspiration for work for you?
Jake Jennings
Yeah. I would say, I don’t know if you know Carlo Finley. He’s one of the teachers in Grady, and he’s like, part of the leader of the sports media certificate and my first class I came to last semester at Georgia, he was my teacher, and he just reached out he was super nice and I’ve like met with him a couple times and he actually linked me to the internship I have this summer so he’s been like super helpful, without even really knowing me before this last semester so he’s probably been a mentor. Somebody more like more of a bigger name I look up to probably Ken Rosenthal. He’s an athletic writer for baseball. And I really liked The Athletic that’s like my dream job would be to work at The Athletic probably not on baseball, but one of the things they preach at The Red and Black is to go read other people’s articles because then you kind of get what writing should be like. I read him a lot and he’s just so creative with everything he does and he’s always right on top of it so he’s probably somebody I kind of want to sculpt my writing around, if possible.
